Farewell, My Dear Child
by Floweramon
Summary: What was going through GLaDOS's head during the final minutes of Portal 2?  More importantly, why were the turrets singing that particular song?


Author's Note: Hello everyone! I've been wanting to write a Portal fanfic for awhile, but couldn't find a proper motive. Now that the "GLaDOS is Chell's mother" theory has some backing, I thought this would be a nice fanfic. I know there's one or two similar to this already, but I wanted to do my own.

I know this is a bad idea, but I'm basically uploading this as soon as it's done and proofread. So if anyone has suggestions I'll take them into account and edit this.

Also, I noticed GLaDOS rarely calls robots or test subjects by name (mostly Chell and Wheatley). I wanted to both address that and keep it consistent to a point.

* * *

><p>"CHELL!"<p>

As I saw her body flying back from the explosion, I was surprised at myself. Why had I called out her name? I had never called this test subject by her name. Something within me just called out.

The force of the impact momentarily rendered her body limp as a doll. Still she fought to get up as the little moron raged at her. There was another sudden feeling: rage at him not for what he did to me, but what he did to her. Why did I care so much? I tried to analyze the feeling. Was it coming from Caroline? Why would she care for some woman she never met?

I noticed Chell (might as well call her that now) had the portal gun again and was looking up. I glanced up and saw that the ceiling had collapsed and revealed the moon. Haven't seen that in a long time. At least the view will be nice when I die agai- What? What did she just do? She has her portal gun pointed at the moon.

Suddenly the air was being sucked out of the room through the portal beneath the mainframe. With it, several pieces of debris and garbage went flying out, including the idiot. For a second I couldn't help but feel a swell of pride for Chell's ingenuity. The moment was gone when I saw her sail through the air again, heading straight for the portal and into outer space. I called out her name again, but like last time I don't think she heard me.

In my panic I began hacking the mainframe. With the little nitwit distracted and corrupted beyond measure (well, 100%), it was easy regaining control. The first thing I did since he was still attached was look through his eye to see where Chell was. I was relieved to see she was holding onto him with all her strength. As I quickly performed the maintinance while getting the grapple ready to grab Chell, I heard HIM yell at her.

"Let go! Let go! I'm still connected! I can pull myself in! I can fix this!"

There was the rage again. I stopped everything and reached through the portal, my feelings showing through my voice.

"I already fixed it. And you are NOT coming back."

I sensed his fear. Any other time I would've enjoyed the feeling, but he was of no importance to me anymore. As soon as I knocked him away, I grabbed Chell's wrist. I waited until she was fully back before directing the sprinkers on the portal. Once that was gone I set her on the ground. She was safe. Thank God.

As I pulled myself together I called in orange and blue to tend to Chell. I kept looking at her and digging through my mind. The part of me that cared, the part that was scared for Chell's life, was definitely Caroline. But why? Was it just human empathy? No, no that wasn't it.

I decided I needed to review Caroline's memory in order to figure this out. I started from the beginning and worked my way through. I was tempted to pause a few times, like her wedding with Mr. Johnson, but such a thing wasn't what I was looking for. I did pause when the name Chell came up, and I swear if I had blood it would have frozen.

Caroline was holding a newborn baby in her arms, the youngling wrigling about. She heard Mr. Johnson's voice from the other room as he talked on the phone.

"So we're in agreement. This baby is yours, completely off the record. We give it to you, and you two don't have to test anymore! Good deal huh? Oh yeah, and uh, Caroline wants her named Chell. I don't know, some dead relative."

Caroline sighed a little as she heard Mr. Johnson walk in, muttering something about spineless employees. He greeted her, and must've noticed the look she gave him because he sighed too.

"Look Caroline, a baby is just not possible. We're scientists, not parents. We don't have time to be wiping up puke and tear. There's too much science left to do! I mean, I let you birth her, so there's something, she's still alive..."

Caroline didn't respond. She just began singing to the baby.

I decided to stop. I was feeling overcome again.

It all makes sense. The sudden feelings as I was reconnecting with Caroline, the overprotectiveness I felt for Chell, the fact that she was among the children on Bring Your Daughter To Work Day (something I'd always been curious about).

I looked at... my daughter. The thought sent several waves of horror through me. All the nightmares she's lived through, all the torture she's endured, all the deadly substances she's been exposed to. It's all my fault.

I fear Caroline is becoming more and more a part of me, but at the moment I couldn't seem to care. All I knew is that Chell cannot stay here. This is no place for a young woman like her, she needs to be free, to be with other humans. I no longer count as one.

But she can't know. I won't let her know what I am, what her mother has done to her. Best case scenario she choses to stay, which while a nice thought, would be a mistake. Worse case she may go insane. She doesn't need anymore help with that, insanity runs in her blood after all.

I thought about it, and came up with a way to make her stay away. Though before she left I wanted to get some things arranged. Just as I was finishing, she began to wake.

She first noticed the robots, but her eyes were quickly drawn to me. As her eyes locked with mine, I allowed myself to let my true feelings out for one moment.

"Oh thank God, you're alright." She seemed genuinely surprised by my words and tone. Not that I blame her. I continued, "You know, being Caroline taught me a valuable lesson. I though you were my greatest enemy. When all along you were my best friend." She actually smiled at that; a soft, friendly smile. I saved that image in my mind so that I could always remember her like that.

"The surge of emotion that shot through me when I saved your life taught me an even more valuable lesson: where Caroline lives in my brain." I sent a fake message for the announcer.

"Caroline deleted."

I could see Chell freeze as I said in my normal voice, "Goodbye, Caroline." It was time for some acting.

"You know, deleting Caroline just now taught me a valuable lesson. The best solution to a roblem is usually the easiest one. And I'll be honest. Killing you? Is hard. You know what my days used to be like? I just tested. Nobody murdered me. Or put me in a potato. Or fed me to birds. I had a pretty good life."

"And then you showed up." I made sure to glare at her, made her feel threatened as I said, "You dangerous, mute lunatic. So you know what? You win. Just go."

Chell had a moment to give me a confused look before the lift sent her up. I laughed a little at my charade before adding, "It's been fun. Don't come back."

I decided to watch her through the turret's eyes. As she came to them, she froze again. I felt bad for the scare, but I was sure she'd love what was to come. And judging from the look on her face when the turrets sang, I was right. I only wish she could understand the sweet Italian song her mother sang to her in the few bonding moments they had. It was alright though; I understood the song perfectly, and that's enough.

"Cara bel, cara mia bella. Mia bambina, a tra che la stima che la stima. A cara mia, addio! Mia bambina cara, perche non passi lontana si lontana da scienza? Cara cara mia bambina. A mia bel. A mia cara. A mia cara. A mia bambina. A cara, cari a mi!"

(My dear, beautiful darling, my child that I admire. To my dear, farewell! My dear girl, why not walk far away from science? My dear, dear girl. To my lovely. To my dear. To my dear. To my child, my dear, dear to me!)

When I saw that the lift had taken her outside, I sent one last gift. A companion to be with her in my place.

Farewell, my dear child.


End file.
